Multilateral wells are used to continue or enhance production from a well into a given formation or into several formations. Typically a whipstock in placed in the main bore and properly oriented and a series of mills form a window or opening in the cased hole to initiate the lateral. The window mills can then be removed, a junction placed at the lateral to connect the main bore and the lateral window just opened and the lateral fully drilled. Subsequently, the lateral is completed with a gravel packing assembly that includes sections of screen supported by an isolation packer that is run in with an inner assembly that includes a wash pipe, a crossover and a shifting tool. After the gravel packing is completed, the inner string is removed and a production string is tagged into the isolation packer and production commences.
One of the problems with this order of events in placing the junction in position and running the bottom hole assembly for gravel packing through the junction is that the presence of the junction limits the size of the completion equipment, which then can limit the rate of subsequent production from the lateral. The present inventions overcomes this problem by running in a bottom hole assembly into the lateral and performing the gravel packing without the junction in position. Instead a main bore packer is provided in the string above the isolation packer that prevents getting gravel in the main bore. A disconnect is placed between the main bore packer and the isolation packer in the lateral. The gravel packing of the lateral without the junction in position can also be accomplished in a single trip because the main bore packer can be brought out with the inner string in the lateral to save rig time. These and other aspects of the present invention will be more apparent to those skilled in the art from a review of the specification and associated drawings while recognizing that the full scope of the invention is to be determined from the appended claims.
Locking tools are sold by Baker Hughes Incorporated under the names AF and HF Sur-Set Top No-Go Lock Assembly. Baker Hughes also sells Liner Setting Tools with a release feature such as the HRD-E model.
A combination whipstock and seal bore tool that is installed in a single trip is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,905,279.